Lorraine Daston on Algorithms Before Computers

There are no cultures without rules. Rules - in the form of everything from traffic regulations to computer algorithms - structure almost every human interaction. These are rigid, precise, explicit rules that minimize interpretation. But the long history of rules before the modern era reveals an alternative and more supple kind of rule: the rule as pattern or paradigm, which requires the exercise of judgment, even in mathematics. How did we get from there to here, and what are the implications of this transformation for the way we live now?

Lorraine Daston is Director of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and Visiting Professor of Social Thought and History at the University of Chicago. A widely respected historian of science, Daston has published on the history of probability and statistics, wonders in early modern science, the emergence of the scientific fact, scientific models, objects of scientific inquiry, the moral authority of nature, and the history of scientific objectivity.

Lecture held at the University of Washington as a Katz Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities on April 19, 2017.

Fair Use Statement: All the contents of the embedded videos belongs to their respectful owners. I am making these materials available by sharing them in an effort to advance understanding of the Internet governance issues and process, for knowledge, awareness & research purposes only.